Editorial Archives - Queen's Journal

Student ticketing initiative is no safety solution

Written on June 25, 2018. Posted in Editorials.

The University District Safety Initiative is about punishment—not progress. It worsens the relationship between student body and city by failing to consult our student representative bodies. In short: it misses the mark. On June 11, Queen’s Principal Daniel Woolf and Kingston Mayor Bryan Paterson...

Exclusivity has no place at Trinity Western

Written on June 25, 2018. Posted in Editorials.

Canada’s Supreme Court struck down Trinity Western University’s proposed exclusive enrolment practices, including abstinence outside heterosexual marriage—and not a moment too soon. While most higher education institutions in Canada started as Christian schools—including Queen’s—the nation is different...

The millennial vote goes deeper than surface level politics

Written on October 5, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

Despite being over two years away from the 2019 election, the debate surrounding candidates and their appeal to young Canadians already seems to revolve around who is the trendier choice. But millennial voters deserve more credit than that. According to a CBC article, millennials and Generation X...

Including Indigenous peoples in Canadian citizenship oath is overdue

Written on October 2, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

While including Indigenous peoples in the text of the Canadian citizenship oath is a positive step towards cultural acknowledgement, it’s not the most important one for Indigenous communities. According to an editorial in the Toronto Star, the new edition of the oath will include “treaties with...

University needs to do more to get rid of move-in signs

Written on September 15, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

Move-in day signs in the student district have been targeting and intimidating new students for decades. While the slogans written on them have gotten less explicit, they perpetuate the same message: that at Queen’s, sexual harassment is the norm. The signs are meant to taunt students and their families...

Federal budget needs breakdown, not buzzwords

Written on April 6, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

While the 2017 federal budget received the stamp of approval from Principal Daniel Woolf for its purported support of science, innovation and post-secondary education, there are empty promises hidden beneath the trendy jargon and buzzwords. Released in early March, the 2017 federal budget works to...

Darts & laurels 2016-17

Written on April 6, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

Darts Costume party deemed racist online: A series of photographs from a ‘Beerfest’ costume party surfaced on social media, sparking national media attention and heated debates about cultural appropriation and racism at Queen’s. Following the event, at which partygoers dressed according to cultural...

Door-to-door check-ins admirable, but more work ahead for Guelph

Written on March 31, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

Door-to-door mental health check-ins are a kind gesture, not a sustainable solution. After four student suicides at Guelph University since the beginning of the academic year, the university’s faculty members and executives have been going door-to-door alongside their Residence Life team to check...

One step forward, two steps back

Written on March 31, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

Arguments about how men are impacted by gender equality don’t have to tear down women to be valid. An opinion piece published in CBC, written by Neil Macdonald, argues that the 2017 federal budget, with its focus on gender equity, excluded men in its emphasis on women’s issues, such as the wage gap...

Thank him tomorrow

Written on March 10, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

Amidst the influx of #internationalwomensday posts on social media outlets this week meant to celebrate the accomplishments and plight of women past and present, one of Canada’s most visible woman, Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, made a blunder. Alongside other International Women’s Day-themed posts, Gregoire...

The aisle between ‘men’s’ and ‘women’s’ clothing is just one more invisible line to erase

Written on March 7, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

I can’t remember the last time I got dressed in the morning without thinking about what my outfit said about me, except when I just thought about how it felt like me. In my years as a younger sister living at home, my fashion sense largely consisted of trying to look different than my older sister...

Fall of humanities may mean rise of mixed education

Written on March 7, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

With more universities moulding the humanities with business and STEM, many students may no longer have to decide between education for the sake of knowledge and education for job security. Over recent years, the declining interest in humanities degrees hasn’t changed, nor is it changing anytime soon,...

Educational reform needs nuance, not simplification

Written on March 3, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

There’s no magic fix for public education, nor is pinning hopes on one helpful. Ingrid Bergman, writer of an opinion piece in The Huffington Post Canada, says Ontario could take a page out of Finland’s book — the Finnish educational system reportedly focuses “on learning rather than performance”...

Tech in the classroom is still contentious

Written on March 3, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

The end isn’t in sight for cellphones in the classroom. Maybe, that’s not such a bad thing. A recent article in The National Post states that “cellphones have become fixtures in Canadian classrooms.” But rather than banning them, going forward the article poses that the most productive conversation...

Sometimes, an inactive statement is action too

Written on February 16, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

While boycotting United States conferences in reaction to Donald Trump’s immigration ban doesn’t take action on the issue, it makes a statement. An online petition calling for a boycott of academic conferences in the United States garnered over 6,000 signatures from scholars. The boycott is in opposition...

‘Single’ doesn’t mean ‘waiting for a relationship’

Written on February 16, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

The value of a young woman’s accomplishments is too easily overshadowed by the concept of an empty space that only a significant other can fill. While people acknowledge I have the right to make my own choices, they often struggle to believe me when I put them into words. I can say that I’m happy...

Undergrads need future guidance too

Written on February 14, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

We don’t have to wait until the last possible opportunity to cut down on students’ stress about the future. Queen’s Grad Maps is a joint initiative by the School of Graduate Studies and Career Services that provides customized career maps for graduate students, based on their programs. The maps help...

Preserving Indigenous languages works from the ground up

Written on February 14, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

Trying to preserve Indigenous languages by starting at the university level is jumping several steps ahead of the starting line. Highlighted in a recent CBC News article, professors in the University of Toronto’s Centre for Indigenous Studies are aiming to preserve languages like Mohawk, which have...

You can’t quantify personality

Written on February 10, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

Grading a test is a lot easier than grading someone’s personality. According to researchers at Western University, Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) scores and grade point averages (GPA) are given too much weight over personality when considering which students should be offered admission to...

The Queen’s experience works against off-campus students

Written on February 10, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

Living at home during my time at university, I’ve become accustomed to friends forgetting that it takes me 40 minutes by bus to get to campus. Meeting up with classmates for a group project has to be scheduled into my day because of the large amount of time needed to travel to campus. According...

Horror movie causes 'Split' between expectations and reality

Written on February 7, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

The association between mental illness and the horror genre represented in the newly-released Split is distortive of reality — and not in the way it’s intended. The central plot point of the movie Split is the antagonist’s diagnosis of dissociative personality disorder. The film follows three girls...

Electoral reform could help increase the student political voice

Written on February 7, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

On Feb 1, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced that his government was scrapping all plans for electoral reform. As students, electoral reform would’ve been a step towards increasing our political representation. During his campaign, Trudeau pledged that 2015 would be the last election under the...

Is hope such a strange word to use for the future of journalism?

Written on February 7, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

Freely consuming news through social media is threatening print and electronic journalism. But the solution may not be in preserving journalism the way we know it — but in shifting it to change with the world. As part of a new yearlong investigation into the future of journalism, the Toronto Star’s...

Next step for Queen’s response to US immigrant ban: more than just words

Written on February 3, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

Canadian universities have the power to be safe havens for vulnerable communities and positive values — so far, Queen’s is wielding this power well. After American President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Friday to ban immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries for 90 days, several...

Students with special needs need more thoughtful aid

Written on February 3, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

When it comes to finding the best ways to accommodate marginalized students, students with special needs can often be left out of the conversation. This past month, the Ontario government announced major changes to the education budget, improving tuition funding for mature students, and students from...

Bell, let’s talk

Written on January 31, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

Donating to mental health research should be applauded, but the work doesn’t end there. Last week, Queen’s researcher Heather Stuart received $1 million from Bell to continue her mental health and anti-stigma research. Stuart formally received the funding last week as part of Bell Let’s Talk Day,...

Five years after water bottle ban, the decision needs another look

Written on January 31, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

Plastic bottles filled with sugary drinks aren’t any more environmentally conscious than plastic bottles filled with water. Considering last week’s passed motion in AMS Assembly to dissolve the Commission of Environmental Affairs, now is as good a time as ever to think critically about what we can...

Town-gown relations still matter outside of Homecoming

Written on January 27, 2017. Posted in Editorials.

Queen’s students aren’t isolated from Kingston as a whole and we ought to stop acting like we are, minus the few times a year it benefits us. Living arrangements in a University town can be complicated. In my second year, I lived in one of the main areas of the University District — right at the crossroads...

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